Three Finalists, Chosen Among 135 Submissions, Pitched Their IdeasLive on Stage at National LINC 2019

SAN DIEGO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/search?q=%24AMTD&src=ctag” target=”_blank”gt;$AMTDlt;/agt; lt;a href=”https://twitter.com/hashtag/LINC2019?src=hash” target=”_blank”gt;#LINC2019lt;/agt;–After months of preparation, it came down to this: a 15-minute pitch to
an audience of some 2,000 independent registered investment advisors
(RIAs) and an expert panel of judges at the TD Ameritrade Institutional12019 National LINC conference. In the end, Derrick Wesley of iMar
Learning Solutions and his idea, Plan-It, prevailed as the inaugural
grand prize winner of Innovation Quest, a fintech competition to
generate ideas to move the RIA industry forward.

Innovation Quest is TD Ameritrade Institutional’s first-ever nationwide
competition, designed to attract leading-edge technology solutions for
RIAs. With a total of $100,000 in prize money up for grabs, TD
Ameritrade Institutional kicked off the competition in July 2018, by
inviting entries from anyone with a big idea for enhancing the lives of
RIAs or their clients. Out of 135 eligible submissions2,
three finalists were announced November 2018.

“Congratulations and well done to Derrick Wesley of iMar Learning
Solutions! We’re excited to see Plan-It come to life,” said Jim Dario,
managing director of product management at TD Ameritrade Institutional.
“This has been such an exciting competition. Each finalist challenged us
to think differently about how RIAs can serve their clients – their
creativity and vision are inspiring.”

All three finalists received $25,000 and secured a trip to National LINC
to compete in the competition’s final round for the grand prize, an
additional $25,000. As part of a general keynote session on Thursday,
Feb. 7, each finalist took the stage to make a 15-minute,
proof-of-concept presentation to a panel of judges and a ballroom full
of advisors. Attendees participated in voting for the winning idea.

About the Winner

Derrick Wesley, owner of iMar Learning Solutions, took home the grand
prize with Plan-It, a financial literacy application that RIAs
can use with their clients. Plan-It teaches the importance of financial
planning to anyone as young as 5 years old up through retirement. The
app links client accounts together with financial literacy education,
providing its users with financial education based on their spending
habits and patterns.

“It’s a thrill to win, but it’s even more exciting to be able to move
forward with developing Plan-It,” said Derrick Wesley of iMar Learning
Solutions. “I’m grateful for the opportunity to be here and show the
potential of how Plan-It can help advisors grow their businesses by
serving their clients better through technology.”

Meet the Other Finalists

The other two finalists were as follows:

Patrick Beaudan, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of Emotomy, presented
the Risk Assessment Tool, an application that uses
machine-learning algorithms to give early warnings to RIAs when client
accounts are at risk of leaving or need cultivation. In addition, the
app warns clients when there has been a significant divergence between
their investment returns and what their risk profile suggests.

To help choose the Innovation Quest winner, TD Ameritrade Institutional
assembled a panel of judges, each bringing expert insights to the world
of technology innovation:

J.D. Bruce, CPA, President, Abacus Wealth Partners, one of the RIA
firms that created iRebal, the industry-leading investment management
and rebalancing tool that was acquired by TD Ameritrade in 2007.

Robert Herjavec, Founder of Herjavec Group. An entrepreneur, Herjavec
built and sold several IT companies to major companies such as AT&T.

“The Innovation Quest competition proved to us that innovative ideas can
come from anywhere,” said Dario. “By tapping into the marketplace, we
can source good ideas that can help RIAs thrive in the decades to come.”

TD Ameritrade Institutional, a leading provider of comprehensive
brokerage and custody services to more than 7,000 independent RIAs, is
known for championing technology innovation in the RIA profession
through the launch of the Veo One® advisor dashboard, the
iRebal® investment management and rebalancing platform, the
thinkpipes® options trading platform, and Model Market CenterTM.

Earlier at LINC 2019, TD Ameritrade Institutional delivered new
innovations, including a virtual agent, Amazon Alexa skills for RIAs and
investors, and a new client portal.

Throughout its 43-year history, TD Ameritrade has been an innovator,
leveling the playing field for individual investors. Beyond elevating
RIAs, the company’s list of ‘firsts’ for investors includes: the first
to offer touch-tone telephone trading (1988); the first to offer mobile
device trading (1999); the first to integrate real-time Twitter data
into stock research (2015); and the first to offer 24-hour trading five
days a week (2018).

About TD Ameritrade Institutional

TD
Ameritrade Institutional empowers more than 7,000 independent
registered investment advisors to transform the lives of their clients.
It provides powerful technology and resources that help simplify running
a business and let advisors spend time more time doing what matters most
— serving their clients. Through meaningful innovation, steadfast
advocacy and unwavering service, TD Ameritrade Institutional supports
RIAs as they build businesses that positively impact their clients and
communities. TD Ameritrade Institutional is a division of TD Ameritrade,
Inc., member FINRA/SIPC, a brokerage subsidiary of TD Ameritrade Holding
Corporation.

About TD Ameritrade Holding Corporation

TD Ameritrade provides investing
services and education
to more than 11 million client accounts totaling approximately $1.2
trillion in assets, and custodial
services to more than 7,000 registered investment advisors. We are a
leader in U.S. retail trading, executing an average of approximately
900,000 trades per day for our clients, more than a quarter of which
come from mobile devices. We have a proud history
of innovation, dating back to our start in 1975, and today our team
of 10,000-strong is committed to carrying it forward. Together, we are
leveraging the latest in cutting edge technologies and one-on-one client
care to transform lives, and investing, for the better. Learn more by
visiting TD Ameritrade’s newsroom
at www.amtd.com,
or read our stories at Fresh
Accounts.